Porter, Finley Robertson Sr

1872 - 1964  (91 years)

• Name	Porter, Finley Robertson
  Suffix	Sr
  Birth	28 Dec 1872	Lowell, Washington, Ohio, United States
  Gender	Male
  Census	1880	Smithville, Charlotte, Virginia, United States   [1]
  	Age: 44
  	Role: Son
  Census	1910	Hamilton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States   [2]
  	Age: 38
  Occupation	1910  [2]
  	head engineer at Mercer Automobile
  Census	1920	Hempstead, Nassau, New York, United States   [3]
  	Age: 48
  Census	1930	Brookhaven, Suffolk, New York, United States   [4]
  	Age: 58
  Census	1940	Southampton, Suffolk, New York, United States   [5]
  Census	1950	Southampton, Suffolk, New York, United States   [6]
  	Age: 78
  	Page 12
  Find A Grave	Manorville Methodist Cemetery, Manorville, Suffolk, New York, United States   [7]
  	128815765
  	Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128815765/finley_robertson-porter: accessed May 19, 2025), memorial page for Finley Robertson Porter Sr. (28 Dec 1872–8 Feb 1964), Find a Grave Memorial ID 128815765, citing Manorville Methodist Cemetery, Manorville, Suffolk County, New York, USA; Maintained by Aislin (contributor 46535342).
  Death	8 Feb 1964	Southampton, Suffolk, New York, United States
  Obituary	10 Feb 1964	Melville, Suffolk, New York, United States   [8]
  	Newsday (Suffolk Edition)
  	Page 26
  _AMTID	122722689398:1030:207924248
  _COLOR	9
  _COLOR1	12
  _FSFTID	K4BT-3TQ
  _UID	65D9C3D16DD84B0194AB07E36BACED3BCB54
  Burial	Manorville Methodist Cemetery, Manorville, Suffolk, New York, United States   [7]
  Person ID	I681	Charles Banks and Jon Ray Family Tree
  Last Modified	24 Jun 2025

  
  

  Father	Porter, Hardin,   b. 20 Dec 1834, Marietta, Washington, Ohio, United States d. 23 Aug 1875, Charlotte, Virginia, United States (Age 40 years)
  Mother	Scherer, Catherine A,   b. May 1836, New York City, New York, New York, United States d. 8 Dec 1921, Southampton, Suffolk, New York, United States (Age 85 years)
  Marriage	5 Sep 1855	Marietta, Washington, Ohio, United States
  Family ID	F199	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Brewster, Lydia Halsey,   b. 3 Jul 1866, New York City, New York, New York, United States d. 18 Apr 1896, Suffolk, New York, United States (Age 29 years)
  Marriage	19 Aug 1892	Quogue, Suffolk, New York, United States   [9]
  	14241
  Children	1. Porter, Robert Brewster,   b. 24 Nov 1893, Southampton, Suffolk, New York, United States d. 21 Dec 1970, Palmetto, Manatee, Florida, United States (Age 77 years)
  Family ID	F583	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	10 Mar 2026

  
  

  Family 2	Raynor, Lulu Burnett,   b. 22 Jun 1878, Manorville, Suffolk, New York, United States d. 2 Feb 1967, Selden, Suffolk, New York, United States (Age 88 years)
  Marriage	27 Feb 1902	Southampton, Suffolk, New York, United States   [9]
  	3706
  Children	1. Porter, Elizabeth,   b. 28 Jun 1904, East Stroudsburg, Monroe, Pennsylvania, United States d. 8 Aug 1990, Cooperstown, Otsego, New York, United States (Age 86 years)   2. Porter, Ella,   b. 8 Feb 1906, East Stroudsburg, Monroe, Pennsylvania, United States d. 10 Dec 2002, Patchogue, Suffolk, New York, United States (Age 96 years)   3. Porter, Kathryn,   b. 1912, New Jersey, United States d. 22 Jul 1993 (Age 81 years)   4. Porter, Corporal Finley Robertson Jr,   b. 11 Jun 1918, Port Jefferson, Suffolk, New York, United States d. 23 Sep 2002, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (Age 84 years)
  Family ID	F200	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	10 Mar 2026

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 28 Dec 1872 - Lowell, Washington, Ohio, United States Marriage - 19 Aug 1892 - Quogue, Suffolk, New York, United States Marriage - 27 Feb 1902 - Southampton, Suffolk, New York, United States Census - Age: 48 - 1920 - Hempstead, Nassau, New York, United States Census - Age: 58 - 1930 - Brookhaven, Suffolk, New York, United States Census - 1940 - Southampton, Suffolk, New York, United States Census - Age: 78 - 1950 - Southampton, Suffolk, New York, United States Find A Grave - 128815765 - - Manorville Methodist Cemetery, Manorville, Suffolk, New York, United States Death - 8 Feb 1964 - Southampton, Suffolk, New York, United States Obituary - Newsday (Suffolk Edition) - 10 Feb 1964 - Melville, Suffolk, New York, United States Burial - - Manorville Methodist Cemetery, Manorville, Suffolk, New York, United States  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  Jun 25The Car That Starred in “My Mother the Car” 2 CommentsWritten by Jack Stewart in Classic Cars, Entertainment Called a 1928 Porter on the show, the vehicle was actually cobbled together from several cars. The body was that of a 1924 Ford Model T. A regular on “Worst TV Show” lists, My Mother the Car was the story of Dave Crabtree (Jerry Van Dyke), who, while car shopping, discovers his mother reincarnated as a vintage car. The mother (the voice of Ann Sothern) communicates through the car’s radio speaker and, in the tradition of Mr. Ed, talks only to Dave. I have to confess that in 1965-66 this was my favorite show. My excuse is that I was nine and liked old cars. When I saw an episode as an adult, I understood its popularity on worst lists. I have a feeling that car-crazed, preadolescents were the bulk of the show’s audience-which makes the car the most important character. According to the script, the car was an extremely rare 1928 Porter-so rare that many plots revolved around the attempts of car collector Captain Manzini (Avery Schreiber) to obtain the Porter. There were two real Porter makes built in the U.S., and neither were anything like the TV car. One Porter was a steam car of 1900-01. The other Porter was a luxury performance car of 1919-22, designed by Finley Robertson Porter. Porter also designed the Mercer Raceabout of 1911-14, which many consider the best American sports car of the brass era. Finley Robertson Porter died a year before the TV series aired and was spared any embarrassment. The TV car started out as a hot rod built by Norm Grabowski. Grabowski was well known in the hot rod community and also built the Kookie T used in 77 Sunset Strip. The Grabowski car combined a 1924 Ford Model T touring body with a Chevy 283 V8 and Powerglide automatic transmission. It’s said that the car also has parts from a Maxwell and a Hudson. Grabowski sold his car to prop man Kaye Trapp. Trapp, along with special effects expert Norm Breedlove (father of land-speed record-setter Craig Breedlove) modified the car to become a “1928 Porter” for the pilot.Porter.

  
  

• Reference

  Charles Banks. "Porter, Finley Robertson Sr". The families of Charles Banks and Jon Ray. https://familytree.banksray.com/getperson.php?personID=I681&tree=banksray (accessed April 25, 2026).